This is easily the most comprehensive guide to printing I have seen on TH-cam. Easy to understand and follow with many excellent tips and tricks. I will never auto support a model ever again.
"It's better to over-support than to have a failure." True words. Because if you think about it by not supporting something enough to save resin, you're saving drops worth and risking tablespoons full of resin in the finished product. This series of videos should be required watching for anyone who buys a resin 3D printer!
REALLY wished I'd watched this series before starting with my first prints. Already buggered up 2 large models that took 12+ hours just to find out they were borked. Nevermind the wasted resin. Live and learn, I guess. I'm now learning the right way.
Oh brother this is exactly the series I needed to find... Love the way you break it down and explain the process of why we do and we don't... Being an absolute noob to 3d printing this is an absolute life saver... Thank you, scored a new sub!!!
Second that! ALso after washing IPA run hot water over the model to take the supports off and they come off like a breeze! The model will initially discolor, don't panic, dry it really good and put it under a fan to further dry and it'll go back to normal.
This Video has massively shown me how important how you lay down large supports in the right places to create a strong base to stick to the plate Thanks Excellent Tutorial
I have gone through a great many tutorials already. You have been the best at explaining things thoroughly and answering the questions I think most beginners probably have. If I come across anybody needing help with slicing their models, I will be sending them your way. Thank you.
I have watched a bunch of videos and yours are the best instructional videos I have seen . I'm a noob and my models have been failing, and now thanks to yourself hopefully that is coming to an end, thank you so much
One trick I figured out for not letting supports bond to the model is that you can support other supports. All I have to do is pop in the bonded supports then support those in an evergrowing stack until the newest support is off the model. Then I can delete all the supports that attach to the model on both ends and edit the contact point on the newest good support to hit the island without the supports touching the model on more than just at the island. Sometimes I get five or six supports stacked on top of each other before one of them falls off the edge of the model.
Already seeing better results. I did my first test run doing my own supports, and the detail is already improved. Some defects still occurred, but that's fine to me cos now I can see exactly where my supports failed and how to adjust moving forward. Thanks so much for all the helpful tips!
I believe that the two vertical ways of rotating the object are called the X and Y axis’. Great video btw! I learned a ton from your methods and can’t wait for my printer to come in so that I can start printing.
Thank you for this! I've been looking for a good tutorial on actually how to place supports and this is the first one that wasn't just hit autosupport!
Thank you for this!!! I appreciate the candor and lesson!!! I learned alot...I am gonna note: I have been FDM printing for a year...just received my Mars...Again I appreciate the instruction!!!!
Thank you so much for the content, I'm currently waiting for my first resin printer to arrive and you're information is well laid out and easy to understand pretty sure you've saved me a ton of cash before I even started. Thanks
There are some similarities between out support styles. I also like to go for super-light ones, but not as extreme as you - I'm currently using 0.6mm for the column & 0.2mm for the tips. I considered going thinner tips (to easily remove supports after printing), but after calibrating with the Cubes-of-calibration I noticed the thinnest columns there are 0.1mm and are incredibly thin. But it's not just that. The cross-sectional area of the tip (and the column) determines its strength. And because it's an area (ie in 2D) it's a product of multiplication of two dimensions (or since it's circular = π*r²). This means that by increasing the radius of a tip (or a column) it'll get stronger by the square of the change, but also the opposite way - the reduction of the tip radius will decrease strength with the square of the change. Few examples for comparison: Ø 0.6mm => 1.13 mm² Ø 0.2mm => 0.13 mm² Ø 0.12mm => 0.045 mm² Whatever the strength of the semi-cured resin (during printing) is it'll be proportional to the area of resin that transmits the forces. So a Ø 0.12mm tip is almost 3 times weaker than a Ø 0.2mm tip. So you not only have to put 3 times more tips, but also hope that none of them fail. With columns it's much easier, as there's easy way to make stronger support columns even with very thin columns - just make a tri-truss-column - ie make 3 vertical columns near each other, and connect each of them with bracings. Note: if you're still using Chitubox my humble advice is stop :) Switch to Lychee - even the free Lychee is much better, and the paid Lychee is very affordable (not even comparable to Chitubox!) Lychee is still not perfect though :/ It has auto-orientation & auto-supports but they're useless imho (unless you're in a real hurry!), but once you know how to make supports & orientation better you'll feel that cringe when you see what the auto generates. Still Lychee has some very useful features - like island supports; hollowing - the core is same as chitubox, but also have suction areas detection and block-areas - ie if some hollow areas leavy very small cavities that can't be well connected to larger cavity or drained outside you can just put a simple shape over it which instructs the slicer to make is solid (and of course you can control the position shape & orientation of these blocks, and can use whatever number of them that you need). Lychee's bracings feat is semi-useful. You can select all supports and click 'bracings' but I wouldn't do that as Lychee creates too many bracings but only between two columns. You can safely delete at least half of them. Even if you select manually 3 support columns and click bracings Lychee will create bracings between column A & B, and between B & C, but not between A & C, but that can be remedied by selecting again A & C only and click bracings again. Trouble is I have to delete at least half the bracings afterwards (and perhaps more few bracings up/down if needed). If Lychee allowed to create bracings between each of the 3 selected columns, and allowed to configure bracings density (I would set it below 50%) if would be great and you could create a tri-truss-column with only few clicks. Currently I use auto-bracings (between selected columns only) only because it's slightly faster to delete half and they'll be at 45 degrees, rather than create half and aim at ~45 degrees. 2 braced columns are strong in their plane, but weak in side-way forces (single column is weak in all side-way forces, it's ok only in tension), but 3 even sparsely braced columns are strong in all directions! Also if you notice above 1 column can take the force of ~8 tips (with the 0.6 / 0.2 example), so 3 columns can handle up to 24 tips, and you'll have wider area (of the tri-truss-tower) to attach the tips. Of course you'll need more than one tri-truss-towers, but one under each major support area most likely will be enough as even half-cured resin has plenty of tensile strength. Just don't forget to ad plenty of tips to the bottoms of your model (ie feet for example), the rest can be supported mostly by the lowest (supported) parts, and then you can only take care of the islands. This way I use about 1/3rd of the resin of a pre-supported model, and have no failure or trouble removing supports after printing.
youre saying "that'll print fine" on red areas - how do you know? I guess you know from experience but any indicator for us noobs that suggest if it will fail or not? im terrified at leaving anything red without a support, still
You're a *lawyer???* That's it! I'm not watching another video! Well, maybe I'll finish this Part 3, but only because I already started. And, just for completeness, maybe Part 4... but that's it! No more! Well, maybe your Saturn review video. Just because I got a Saturn printer, but that's the only reason, ok? And that's IT!! oh, wait... you did some videos on Lychee? Ok, well, maybe I'll watch those... BUT NOT ANOTHER ONE!
hello ....i have a nova3d elfin2 and using chitubox with a plugin....i printed many samples that did not need support and ,,all printed with succes....no bed adhesion problem ,,,,but each time i try to print a figurine with support ...with a raft or with out a raft ...after printing the base firmly stock to the printer bed ....the supports starts printing on the FEP film
Another Good Tutorial; I'm having a problem with keeping the Supports settings & what each one does; Example>(Top-Middle-Bottom) then> Light Medium Heavy... Do U have a simple way to understand what each is for & when>(Like I'm a 10 yr old PLEASE) THANKS!!! Lee
I've been using Chitubox every day for over a year now. I had NO idea that's how the edit support worked. Literally changed everything. DO you have a patreon or donation option somewhere?
I'd have to see the model, but for wings I've done, i orient so the most parts are facing "up" so you need as few supports as possible, then light supports to most other spots (always heavies at the "bottom" of the model though).
I have a question. I’m extremely new. I plan on printing my own designs. Will I assume I will need a separate program to design with? Then transfer to this program? Just wondering the series from scrap to print.
Hey man great video! Question i heard that if you use boiled water after cleaning with isopropyl alcohol, the supports will come out more easily is that alright?
@@3dprintingpro212 Ah, Ok, I have been watching them all in order. Man, just got my Elegoo Mars and this is quite a bit of work! My first print is going to be the Make benchie tower and a simple Mummy. I wanted to do a few other characters but man, this is taking a long time, I still haven't got the whole 'navigation in 3D space' thing down!
Hi! when i try to place supports manually the program refuses to place them where im clicking. The placement height is set to 5mm and i've tried to place supports on the "island" but they end up being transported to a spot i never clicked.
I am not able to move the base of my supports like you did in the video. When you click yours it goes all red and it moves. When I click mine it only goes partially red and lis locked in place. Is there a setting I am missing somewhere?
Make sure you click on the bottom portion of the support to move it. Also, if it is anchored on the model itself it won't move, or if the base is "hemmed in" by other support bases sometimes you can't move it.
@@3dprintingpro212 Thank you so much for the reply! It is getting stuck to the base of the model and I have no idea how to set it up where it doesn't. I really appreciate your help. I will figure it out eventually!
HELP! When you select a support in "Edit Support" the entire structure turns red and you can move the whole thing. When I select a support tree, only the shaft turns red and I can't move it anywhere. What am I doing wrong?
Get's great reviews but I can't follow this at all. Talking way too fast. Have to squint to see the settings off to the right and had to replay those settings about 30 times before they were quite manically changed after 3 seconds. Settings are everything and I can't read them even on full screen. I still ended up with upside down supports that drown out the model.
![ฮักเทื่อสุดท้าย - บอย ศิริชัย [OFFICIAL MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/-1PoPoQ-B-k/mqdefault.jpg)
This is easily the most comprehensive guide to printing I have seen on TH-cam.
Easy to understand and follow with many excellent tips and tricks.
I will never auto support a model ever again.
"It's better to over-support than to have a failure." True words. Because if you think about it by not supporting something enough to save resin, you're saving drops worth and risking tablespoons full of resin in the finished product. This series of videos should be required watching for anyone who buys a resin 3D printer!
REALLY wished I'd watched this series before starting with my first prints. Already buggered up 2 large models that took 12+ hours just to find out they were borked. Nevermind the wasted resin.
Live and learn, I guess. I'm now learning the right way.
Oh brother this is exactly the series I needed to find... Love the way you break it down and explain the process of why we do and we don't... Being an absolute noob to 3d printing this is an absolute life saver... Thank you, scored a new sub!!!
Second that! ALso after washing IPA run hot water over the model to take the supports off and they come off like a breeze! The model will initially discolor, don't panic, dry it really good and put it under a fan to further dry and it'll go back to normal.
I can feel months of my life being saved. Thanks for preventing the endless experimentation :)
This Video has massively shown me how important how you lay down large supports in the right places to create a strong base to stick to the plate Thanks Excellent Tutorial
I have gone through a great many tutorials already. You have been the best at explaining things thoroughly and answering the questions I think most beginners probably have. If I come across anybody needing help with slicing their models, I will be sending them your way. Thank you.
I have watched a bunch of videos and yours are the best instructional videos I have seen . I'm a noob and my models have been failing, and now thanks to yourself hopefully that is coming to an end, thank you so much
Excellent tutorial. Thanks for making this informative video.
this has brought SO much to light and done upped my game 10fold in 15 minutes.. Thank you sir! no one breaks it down like this.
I would just like to thank you for your support setting and walk thoughts. They really helped me with my supports.
thinking of buying a printer in a few days... your videos really have me stoked to start learning this skill.
One trick I figured out for not letting supports bond to the model is that you can support other supports. All I have to do is pop in the bonded supports then support those in an evergrowing stack until the newest support is off the model. Then I can delete all the supports that attach to the model on both ends and edit the contact point on the newest good support to hit the island without the supports touching the model on more than just at the island. Sometimes I get five or six supports stacked on top of each other before one of them falls off the edge of the model.
I cannot thank you enough. You have provided a GREAT service to the community. Thank you .
Already seeing better results. I did my first test run doing my own supports, and the detail is already improved. Some defects still occurred, but that's fine to me cos now I can see exactly where my supports failed and how to adjust moving forward. Thanks so much for all the helpful tips!
I dig your comedy. Also liked the Elizabeth Warren joke from last video, "Auto supports suck"
Just starting resin printing and feel like you should know your videos are and have been great to watch and listen to!
Using resin printers for research in medical applications and this video was EXTREMELY helpful. Thank you for sharing your knowledge!
extremely helpful and your descriptions are to the point and concise allowing one to stay engaged. Great job. Onto part 4
This is a game changer for me - thank you so much for laying down this knowledge, it is appreciated!
Finally a guy who tells it like it is.
These videos are pure gold. Thank you very much for the tips!
I believe that the two vertical ways of rotating the object are called the X and Y axis’. Great video btw! I learned a ton from your methods and can’t wait for my printer to come in so that I can start printing.
Thank you for this! I've been looking for a good tutorial on actually how to place supports and this is the first one that wasn't just hit autosupport!
This is excellently produced and invaluable information.
Thanks so much
Thanks for watching!
Thank you for this!!! I appreciate the candor and lesson!!! I learned alot...I am gonna note: I have been FDM printing for a year...just received my Mars...Again I appreciate the instruction!!!!
I just started 3d printing. Your videos are amazing and have really helped me get started. Thank you!!!
Greg. Thank you so much for creating these videos. They are incredibly helpful. Thank you for being so clear and concise.
Thank you for the kind words!
I'm just starting out with printing and these videos have been really helpful thank you!
Fantastic video series. The same techniques will apply to other subjects as well. I’m learning a lot!
Looking forward to seeing how you set up the Colossus.
simply great and amazing !
Thank you so much for this video
For mirroring, just export it as an STL, bring it back in then mirror it. If you "bake" the supports in to it, you can mirror without losing them.
Very easy to understand, no unnecessary details, you just might saved my first print on the photon s!
Excellent, just continuing through this series. It's very helpful.
You helped me alot. Thank you so much for making this video
Excellent work and narration.
Thank you so much for the content, I'm currently waiting for my first resin printer to arrive and you're information is well laid out and easy to understand pretty sure you've saved me a ton of cash before I even started. Thanks
Was referred to you from Reddit. Totally worth it, thank you so much
literally following right now! Bit by bit with same model, thanks!
Thanks a lot for those videos, they're great and help me a lot with getting into resin printing!
thanks for your work, great video.
Thank you so much for all the knowledge you share with us!
Keep up the great work!
Super helpful thanks.
my epax just arrived the way you explain things is great even I can understand them lol keep up the great prints and great videos
I learned so much from this video! Three thumbs up!!!
Definitely helpful. Will be updating how I do supports based on this.
Another great vid. You are an awesome teacher. I'm learning a ton.
Thank you sir
Great vid, very helpful
Amazing stuff.
Thanks a lot for these, I've learned a lot already!
There are some similarities between out support styles.
I also like to go for super-light ones, but not as extreme as you - I'm currently using 0.6mm for the column & 0.2mm for the tips.
I considered going thinner tips (to easily remove supports after printing), but after calibrating with the Cubes-of-calibration I noticed the thinnest columns there are 0.1mm and are incredibly thin.
But it's not just that. The cross-sectional area of the tip (and the column) determines its strength. And because it's an area (ie in 2D) it's a product of multiplication of two dimensions (or since it's circular = π*r²). This means that by increasing the radius of a tip (or a column) it'll get stronger by the square of the change, but also the opposite way - the reduction of the tip radius will decrease strength with the square of the change.
Few examples for comparison:
Ø 0.6mm => 1.13 mm²
Ø 0.2mm => 0.13 mm²
Ø 0.12mm => 0.045 mm²
Whatever the strength of the semi-cured resin (during printing) is it'll be proportional to the area of resin that transmits the forces.
So a Ø 0.12mm tip is almost 3 times weaker than a Ø 0.2mm tip. So you not only have to put 3 times more tips, but also hope that none of them fail.
With columns it's much easier, as there's easy way to make stronger support columns even with very thin columns - just make a tri-truss-column - ie make 3 vertical columns near each other, and connect each of them with bracings.
Note: if you're still using Chitubox my humble advice is stop :) Switch to Lychee - even the free Lychee is much better, and the paid Lychee is very affordable (not even comparable to Chitubox!)
Lychee is still not perfect though :/
It has auto-orientation & auto-supports but they're useless imho (unless you're in a real hurry!), but once you know how to make supports & orientation better you'll feel that cringe when you see what the auto generates.
Still Lychee has some very useful features - like island supports; hollowing - the core is same as chitubox, but also have suction areas detection and block-areas - ie if some hollow areas leavy very small cavities that can't be well connected to larger cavity or drained outside you can just put a simple shape over it which instructs the slicer to make is solid (and of course you can control the position shape & orientation of these blocks, and can use whatever number of them that you need).
Lychee's bracings feat is semi-useful. You can select all supports and click 'bracings' but I wouldn't do that as Lychee creates too many bracings but only between two columns. You can safely delete at least half of them.
Even if you select manually 3 support columns and click bracings Lychee will create bracings between column A & B, and between B & C, but not between A & C, but that can be remedied by selecting again A & C only and click bracings again. Trouble is I have to delete at least half the bracings afterwards (and perhaps more few bracings up/down if needed).
If Lychee allowed to create bracings between each of the 3 selected columns, and allowed to configure bracings density (I would set it below 50%) if would be great and you could create a tri-truss-column with only few clicks. Currently I use auto-bracings (between selected columns only) only because it's slightly faster to delete half and they'll be at 45 degrees, rather than create half and aim at ~45 degrees.
2 braced columns are strong in their plane, but weak in side-way forces (single column is weak in all side-way forces, it's ok only in tension), but 3 even sparsely braced columns are strong in all directions!
Also if you notice above 1 column can take the force of ~8 tips (with the 0.6 / 0.2 example), so 3 columns can handle up to 24 tips, and you'll have wider area (of the tri-truss-tower) to attach the tips. Of course you'll need more than one tri-truss-towers, but one under each major support area most likely will be enough as even half-cured resin has plenty of tensile strength.
Just don't forget to ad plenty of tips to the bottoms of your model (ie feet for example), the rest can be supported mostly by the lowest (supported) parts, and then you can only take care of the islands.
This way I use about 1/3rd of the resin of a pre-supported model, and have no failure or trouble removing supports after printing.
Thanks for the useful info! Your delivery reminds me of Chef John from Food Wishes. Very fun to watch :)
very good! so much win! I understand a little more now!
Hope to see Part 4 soon! :)
OMG this is sooooo helpful!
Very useful video, thanks a bunch for creating this!
Much needed video. Thanks!
Thank you for these, they are very helpful.
Thank you, so much. for making this Video.
Its very instructive! thanks so much!
youre saying "that'll print fine" on red areas - how do you know? I guess you know from experience but any indicator for us noobs that suggest if it will fail or not? im terrified at leaving anything red without a support, still
Nice videos, thx! Could you also do a video about removing supports without breaking (delicate) parts of the model?
Now that’s how you do it!
You're a *lawyer???*
That's it! I'm not watching another video!
Well, maybe I'll finish this Part 3, but only because I already started. And, just for completeness, maybe Part 4... but that's it! No more! Well, maybe your Saturn review video. Just because I got a Saturn printer, but that's the only reason, ok? And that's IT!! oh, wait... you did some videos on Lychee? Ok, well, maybe I'll watch those... BUT NOT ANOTHER ONE!
Thanks, It would be nice to see your support settings for Light / Medium / Heavy unless TOP is the only one you've modified from default
Agreed, support setting screenshots would be amazing to have!
He has a video addressing this already
This comment is from 4 weeks ago... When he didn't. :-)
@@gmwhiteh what video addresses this? I can't seem to find it
Really love your videos, man. But I agree, can you show us the rest of your support settings, please? And elaborate?
Thanks very much
I can't believe that i always change only the top part of the supports when editing, i really didn't know that you can move all the parts!
You should share the STL file so that viewers can practice Chitubox according to the model exemplified in your video
autosupports have gotten better tho. every single low point is now supported if i do it.
Great video! Is there a way to mass select (ie. marquee select) a large number of supports and delete them? Cant seem to find how to do it. Thanks!
Hello! Great video! Any recommendation how to orient a sword or a sniper gun which is quite long but thin.
Thanks in advanc!
hello ....i have a nova3d elfin2 and using chitubox with a plugin....i printed many samples that did not need support and ,,all printed with succes....no bed adhesion problem ,,,,but each time i try to print a figurine with support ...with a raft or with out a raft ...after printing the base firmly stock to the printer bed ....the supports starts printing on the FEP film
Another Good Tutorial; I'm having a problem with keeping the Supports settings & what each one does; Example>(Top-Middle-Bottom) then> Light Medium Heavy... Do U have a simple way to understand what each is for & when>(Like I'm a 10 yr old PLEASE) THANKS!!! Lee
Hi, please, share your Top, Middle, Bottom and Raft config on light/heavy!!
can u export your settings and link in the videos?
My take away from this, is to support the part you want lesser detailed, and the part you want more detailed you want supported by the print itself.
Oui
I had success saving a supported model as STL, then reloading it and flipping the Axis. The model now has supports and is flipped
"it's like a covert operation"
-3DPrintingPro
"Dont hatte me cause iam a lawyer" 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I've been using Chitubox every day for over a year now. I had NO idea that's how the edit support worked. Literally changed everything. DO you have a patreon or donation option somewhere?
patreon.com/3dprintingpro
@@3dprintingpro212 Boom done. Thanks for these vids!
Ok I'm new to the whole 3d resin printing and was wondering should I print one of the test prints first or should I just go in for what I want?
I',m having a hard time supporting wings for a model. Got any tips for such model with that many angles?
I'd have to see the model, but for wings I've done, i orient so the most parts are facing "up" so you need as few supports as possible, then light supports to most other spots (always heavies at the "bottom" of the model though).
I have a question. I’m extremely new. I plan on printing my own designs. Will I assume I will need a separate program to design with? Then transfer to this program? Just wondering the series from scrap to print.
I have the epax x1.
Hey man great video! Question i heard that if you use boiled water after cleaning with isopropyl alcohol, the supports will come out more easily is that alright?
I use hot, not quite boiling water yes :)
@@3dprintingpro212 Thanks for the tip i've learned a lot with you! :D
You should put your settings in the description, like the size of your supports.
I have a vid all about that :)
@@3dprintingpro212 Ah, Ok, I have been watching them all in order. Man, just got my Elegoo Mars and this is quite a bit of work! My first print is going to be the Make benchie tower and a simple Mummy. I wanted to do a few other characters but man, this is taking a long time, I still haven't got the whole 'navigation in 3D space' thing down!
Hi! when i try to place supports manually the program refuses to place them where im clicking. The placement height is set to 5mm and i've tried to place supports on the "island" but they end up being transported to a spot i never clicked.
Is the red, areas that are likely to ruin model?
Do you need this software to print?
I am not able to move the base of my supports like you did in the video. When you click yours it goes all red and it moves. When I click mine it only goes partially red and lis locked in place. Is there a setting I am missing somewhere?
Make sure you click on the bottom portion of the support to move it. Also, if it is anchored on the model itself it won't move, or if the base is "hemmed in" by other support bases sometimes you can't move it.
@@3dprintingpro212 Thank you so much for the reply! It is getting stuck to the base of the model and I have no idea how to set it up where it doesn't. I really appreciate your help. I will figure it out eventually!
HELP! When you select a support in "Edit Support" the entire structure turns red and you can move the whole thing. When I select a support tree, only the shaft turns red and I can't move it anywhere. What am I doing wrong?
When you select the shaft (as opposed to the top portion) you can only move it if the base isn't "locked in place" by other support bases.
I'm that guy that drains the vat every print...
It's actually great that you do! I do it only when I see even the slightest fail but every time is actually the best practice. :)
Get's great reviews but I can't follow this at all. Talking way too fast. Have to squint to see the settings off to the right and had to replay those settings about 30 times before they were quite manically changed after 3 seconds. Settings are everything and I can't read them even on full screen. I still ended up with upside down supports that drown out the model.
You sound like Jesse Ventura. I ain't got time to bleed